Nashik

India’s York Winery bucks the trend by opting to produce a vintage sparkling rosé wine

York Winery which started in 2008, has established itself in the Indian wine industry fairly quickly. The family-owned and run wine company based in India’s popular winemaking region of Nashik, Maharastra is already producing 10 different wines to date – red, white and sparkling wines – within this short period. The latest add-on to their portfolio is a vintage sparkling rosé, the second to be produced in India.

While the sparkling wine market is exploding everywhere in the world, in India’s nascent market interest is far from significant levels with the exception of champagne at the top end of the market. So the decision to make a sparkling rosé, a vintage at that, intrigued me.

Kailash Gurnani with his new vintage sparkling rosé wine

“Yes, the market is small in India, but people who visit our winery and tasting room often ask if we make a rosé sparkling. It also helps with restaurant sales to have both a white and pink sparkling in your portfolio,” says Kailash Gurnani. While the first vintage was small, the second, 2016, is not much bigger: a mere 3500 bottles. But Gurnani is a firm believer that the Indian sparkling market will grow. “What I’ve noticed is that newbies to wine are often surprised at how easy a sparkling wine is to drink: you can just keep sipping it. In India maybe there is a lower level of awareness, if new drinkers opt to buy a sparkling wine, it is at the entry level.”

As India wine still lacks quality markers, there are no qualifications on what exemplifies a ‘good vintage’. However, Gurnani says he’s decided to buck the trend and call his sparkling rosé a vintage wine – because that is exactly what it is.

India’s second vintage sparkling rosé. Give me the back story on your decision to do this….

​Actually our Chenin sparkling has always been a vintage wine. However we do not market it that way since we are rapidly scaling up production due to high demand. I want to have that flexibility of making a non-vintage wine whenever necessary to ensure consistent product quality and supply. The volumes of the sparkling rosé are small as it is a small segment in India. Further, non-vintage wines are practical only on a large scale. The style of the rosé is distinct and we felt that we must market it for what it is, a vintage wine!

Do you think India, only just waking up to the joys of sparkling, is ready for a vintage sparkling…and a rosé at that? Or are you testing the market/ and making it solely for a niche audience?

​Historically and traditionally, only the best vintages of sparkling wines are released as vintage wines. In our case, we are just calling the wine what it is and I do not see anything wrong with that. It raises expectations from the wine but we believe that people won’t be disappointed.

With 2800 bottles of the first vintage (2015) and a price tag of Rs.1300 (€17), its already in the niche segment. So whether it is deliberate of not, the wine is for a niche clientele. Having said that, in the first 48 hours since launch we have sold many cases of this wine to wine lovers from various backgrounds at the winery tasting room in Nashik. This shows that wine in India is breaking cultural barriers and reaching out to more people!

So Moët Henessey India, the luxury wines and spirits division of French beverage giant LVMH, has made a scintillating entrance in India in grand style with the launch of its Chandon winery. The Rs 50 crore ($7.5 million) 21-acre winery, situated in the picturesque hilly region Dindori in Nashik, Maharashtra (known as India’s premier wine region), was unveiled at a high energy party. Gourmet brunch food, summer-accented sparkling cocktails in colourful stemware, glorious flower arrangements and colour-coordinated goody-bags greeted guests, most of whom were from the wine media and trade. It was impressive, to say the least.

Although Chandon has been making two sparkling wines – Brut and Brut rosé – for a year now at a third-party winery under the supervision of its own team, there was a palpable excitement at the grand curtain-raising of its very own show. At a dinner at Nashik’s Gateway hotel the evening previous, Davide Marcovitch, president of Moët Henessey described it as “cooking in your own kitchen compared to cooking at someone else’s… the food tastes different.”

Chandon has been ‘cooking in their own kitchen’ in five different countries in the last 60 years before stepping officially into India. Starting with Mendoza, Argentina way back in 1959: their first ever winery for sparkling wine outside of Champagne, France. Then after a longish wait in 1973 came #2 – Domaine Chandon in California’s Napa Valley where their sparkling wine is made from the classic Champagne grapes – Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. This was swiftly followed with Chandon do Brasil also in 1973, in Serra Gaucha, where Brut is made with imported Pinot Noir and Chardonnay along with the addition of 40% Welschriesling from Brazil, all by the charmat (tank) method.

Steel and more: Giant stainless steel tanks dominate the new winery

From all accounts, its next winery in Australia’s cool climate Yarra Valley, opened in 1986, has produced some of its best-appreciated sparkling wine. The Aussie wines are made by the traditionelle method again with locally-grown Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier and the range includes special cuvées. Before the Nashik winery opened its doors, Chandon set up shop in Ningxia, China in 2013. Here, the wine has been tweaked to appeal to the palate “not used to the acidity normally found in champagne,” according to Gloria Xia, the winemaker. The stress was on aroma and a fresh texture, she added. Interestingly, China, which is famous for its yen for red wine, is gradually waking up to the “contemporary appeal” of sparkling wine, and the UK-based International Wine and Spirit Research has made note of the tripling of consumption in sparkling wine here between 2009 to 2013.